Teaching children to ride safely on the roads

What's the best way to do this? Are there courses they or we can go on
(we live in Cardiff) or a certificate they can work towards?

We've ridden the 300 metres to and from the park a few times now, and I
acutely conscious of how difficult it is for them to see and be seen
over and around parked cars.

Daniele
--
Apple Juice Ltd
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road www.apple-juice.co.uk
Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2019 0140

Does their school run a cycling proficiency course? If so, enrol them on
it; if not, then offer to run one for them! The training for the instructor
is just one evening. Contact your County Council's Road Safety team.

The course for the kids lasts 8 hours (typically 4 2-hour sessions). The
students need to be a minimum of 10 years old. The course isn't perfect (eg
it includes emphasis on the slowing-down signal which I've *never* seen used
in real life) but it does teach the basic techniques for handling junctions,
roundabouts and parked cars and is a *lot* better than nothing (IMHO).

Huw Francis

"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message
...
What's the best way to do this? Are there courses they or we can go on
(we live in Cardiff) or a certificate they can work towards?

We've ridden the 300 metres to and from the park a few times now, and I
acutely conscious of how difficult it is for them to see and be seen
over and around parked cars.

Daniele
--
Apple Juice Ltd
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road www.apple-juice.co.uk
Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2019 0140

On Mon, 9 Aug 2004 19:29:57 +0100,
(D.M. Procida) wrote in
message
:

What's the best way to do this? Are there courses they or we can go on
(we live in Cardiff) or a certificate they can work towards?

Yes there are, but you can teach them as well, starting on quiet
roads. Have you read Cyclecraft, I can't remember whether you said
before? Many of the techniques are for adults, but the underlying
reasons for them apply just as much to children. First and foremost,
position yourself where you can be seen, which means not riding in the
gutter and pulling out well before parked cars. My kids usually ride
with flags as well (they can be had from recumbent sellers and some
trailer bike stockists).

We rode with Michael on the road many times before his first training
course, and he did the equivalent of Cycling Proficiency last year
aged nine, on a course run by Oxfordshire.

Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

88% of helmet statistics are made up, 65% of them at Washington University

"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message
...

We've ridden the 300 metres to and from the park a few times now, and I
acutely conscious of how difficult it is for them to see and be seen
over and around parked cars.

Bent riders are lower than a child and they must cope with parked cars, but
I can't see an real reason to see *over* a parked car unless it's just
before a junction and could be hiding emerging traffic.

"D.M. Procida" wrote:

What's the best way to do this? Are there courses they or we can go on
(we live in Cardiff) or a certificate they can work towards?

We've ridden the 300 metres to and from the park a few times now, and I
acutely conscious of how difficult it is for them to see and be seen
over and around parked cars.

Try contacting the CTC's Cycle Training Department on 01483 520758. They
keep a register of nationally approved instructors. There may be one in
your area.
Also Cardiff do a basic scheme in their schools - phone 02920 619907,
but try and make sure it is a cyclist who instructs - in many LAs lip
service only is given to cycle training but I've heard Cardiff is quite
good - ICBW
http://www.cardiff.gov.uk/cycling/cardiff.html

You don't say how old your children are but regarding the problem of
being seen around parked cars the best advice is to make sure they are
clearly in the view of the other traffic - bright clothes and good road
positioning helps.
If they are riding in the gutter and slipping into gaps between parked
cars it will only make the problem worse.

Good Luck

John
http://www.hampshirecycletraining.org.uk/

Huw Francis wrote:
The course isn't perfect (eg
it includes emphasis on the slowing-down signal which I've *never* seen used
in real life)

I use it daily, and find it very useful.

Motorists who know what it means hang back and give me room to stop,
passing safely after I've stopped.

Motorists who don't know what it means hang back because they can see
that I'm about to do something, but they don't have a clue what. Then
they pass safely after I've stopped.

I like to think that some of those who don't know what it means might go
home and look it up in the HC, and learn something as a result.

--
Danny Colyer (the UK company has been laughed out of my reply address)
URL:http://www.speedy5.freeserve.co.uk/danny/
"He who dares not offend cannot be honest." - Thomas Paine

in message , Just me
') wrote:

Does their school run a cycling proficiency course?**If*so,*enrol*them
on it; if not, then offer to run one for them!**The*training*for*the
instructor is just one evening.

You know, I find that deeply unsettling. There's a lot to understand in
safe cycling, and many people seem to have basic assumptions about what
it's safe to do on a bike that are diametrically wrong. Those
assumptions cannot all be challenged and overcome in just one evening's
training.

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; how did we conclude that a ****ing cartoon mouse is deserving
;; of 90+ years of protection, but a cure for cancer, only 14?
-- user 'Tackhead', in /. discussion of copyright law, 22/05/02

On Mon, 9 Aug, Adrian Boliston wrote:
"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message
...

We've ridden the 300 metres to and from the park a few times now, and I
acutely conscious of how difficult it is for them to see and be seen
over and around parked cars.

Bent riders are lower than a child and they must cope with parked cars, but
I can't see an real reason to see *over* a parked car unless it's just
before a junction and could be hiding emerging traffic.

Parked cars are, however, much more of a hazard for a low bent than an
upright. In particular, emerging from an entrance which has cars
parked tight up to it is troublesome on a low bent - you need to be
well out into where the traffic stream would be before you can see far
up teh road.

This is a combination of being low, and your head being near the back
of teh vehicle, however. A child may be low, but they can still lean
forward to look around things. It's still not as reliable or easy as
looking over things (or in one side and out teh other, which onbly
requires you to be higher than teh bottom of teh wondows, not higher
than the car).

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Simon Brooke wrote:

in message , Just me
') wrote:

Does their school run a cycling proficiency course?**If*so,*enrol*them
on it; if not, then offer to run one for them!**The*training*for*the
instructor is just one evening.

You know, I find that deeply unsettling. There's a lot to understand in
safe cycling, and many people seem to have basic assumptions about what
it's safe to do on a bike that are diametrically wrong. Those
assumptions cannot all be challenged and overcome in just one evening's
training.

You are right to be unsettled.
Quite often those 'volunteers' are not even cyclists :-(
I have attended these evenings and they are frightening.

At the last one I attended a parent volunteer wanted bikes with drop
handlebars banned, while several admitted to never having ridden since
they were children - probably 30 - 40 years ago in some cases.
Would you want to be taught to drive by a non-driver?

Many thought *all* cyclists should *only* use cycle paths.

What was very noticeable is that not one of those present (except
myself) arrived by bike.

So long as the LA can say they have put so many 000's through their
schemes they are happy - it keeps the councillors 'green' and it keeps
the senior officers in jobs.

John B

Adrian Boliston wrote:

"D.M. Procida" wrote in
message
...

We've ridden the 300 metres to and from the park a few times now, and I
acutely conscious of how difficult it is for them to see and be seen
over and around parked cars.

Bent riders are lower than a child and they must cope with parked cars, but
I can't see an real reason to see *over* a parked car unless it's just
before a junction and could be hiding emerging traffic.

You need to be able to see as much as possible. I can see a useful 300
metres down the road, and see cars in the distance turning into it and
coming towards us well before they get there. My children can't, and
they more than me need plenty of time in which to assess the road and
make decisions.

Daniele
--
Apple Juice Ltd
Chapter Arts Centre
Market Road www.apple-juice.co.uk
Cardiff CF5 1QE 029 2019 0140